Reasons Not to Hesitate When Considering New Digital Platforms

Fear of the unknown can have a profound effect on marketers. For various reasons, many SMB brands are afraid to introduce digital platforms to their marketing campaign strategies. It’s often easier to stick with the tried-and-true than to disrupt traditional marketing strategies.

This shortsighted fear of digital can keep SMB brands from effectively competing in today’s fiercely competitive, digital-savvy business environment. While playing it safe is common, especially when big budgets are involved, an overreliance on conventional methods can keep brands from seeing the bigger picture.

Adding to the hesitation factor is that companies often feel they’re not up to speed with the rapidly expanding digital domain. Knowing which platforms to use for the planning, creation, execution, and attribution of digital marketing campaigns can be overwhelming. Concerns about costs and ROI, effectiveness, learning curves, and whether the investment is really needed can also cause companies to hesitate.

Consider the Benefits

But rather dwell on the negatives, marketers would do well to consider the many positives of digital marketing, which include:

• A constant, omnichannel online presence and extensive global reach.

• Cost-effectiveness and delivers an excellent return on investment (ROI).

• Provides immediate, highly quantitative results.

• Opens direct lines between brands and audiences.

• Operates in real time.

• Adds greatly to personalized experiences.

• Can be continually analyzed.

• Easily recognize what’s working and fix what isn’t.

A well-crafted digital marketing platform can yield tremendous results in brand recognition, conversions, reaching larger audiences, customer retention, and increased sales. So, what’s the best way to overcome hesitation? By learning more about your options, of course.

Understanding Digital Marketing Platforms

Some of the most effective and widely used digital platforms include video, email, content, social media, pay-per-click (PPC), programmatic advertising, and mobile marketing. Each of these platforms, or channels, are designed to seamlessly interact with each other, and brands can use as many as suit their business needs.

But with so many channels out there, how do brands know which will work best with their marketing strategies and how to best leverage them?

Start With a Plan

It helps to start with a plan, which often means working backwards and asking pointed questions about your brand and your marketing goals. The answers to these questions will give you insights to help define your marketing strategy, your budget, and the messaging and products that will work best.

Define Your Target Audience

Once you define your goals, you then need to define your target audience. One way to target specific audiences is to know which channels they’re most active or engaged with. Analysis and research will help with this. Knowing your target audience will help you make informed decisions about the platform that’s right for you and will help you come up with content that will interest and engage your audience.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Audience

It’s also important to keep in mind that different platforms attract different audiences. LinkedIn has become the preferred platform for B2B brands, while Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram help B2C brands with large millennial and Gen-Z user bases engage directly with their customers. And all brands should be using YouTube because of its incredible reach, high-earning user base, and potential for engagement with customers of all demographics.

Other Considerations

Solidifying the platforms that might be best for you also means thinking about deeper considerations. Some of these include how the platform(s) complements your current marketing strategies, whether the platform will help you reach and engage with new audiences, what the Return of Ad Spend (ROAS) for each platform might be, and how you can track attribution.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Unknown

A fear of the unknown can be downright fatal to brands who are afraid to jump into the digital marketing pool. The reality of today’s business world is that the way companies market themselves and their products has radically changed. Today’s consumers want the type of meaningful and personalized interactions with brands that are best achieved through digital platforms.

Because of this shift, brands need to embrace the fact that the traditional models that used to work so well are rapidly becoming antiquated. And with global digital ad spends expected to reach $389 billion in 2021, those who don’t embrace new marketing technologies stand the chance of going the way of the dinosaurs.